ISSY-LES-MOULINEAUX, France — Sodexo this week unveiled two partnerships designed to expand the amount of sustainable and certified fair trade beverages it purchases.

The company has teamed up with United Coffee and Numi to source its Aspretto coffee and tea brands, with the goal of having these beverages be traceable, 100 percent naturally produced, as well as focusing on fair trade certified products.

United Coffee was recently awarded a "Corporate Green Globe" prize from the environmental NGO Rainforest Alliance for its commitment to sustainable development. Numi, a tea company based in Oakland, Calif., has certified its teas as organic, kosher, halal and fair trade.

"Sodexo designed and developed its Aspretto hot beverages offer as part of our sustainability commitment to balance societal and environmental goals while providing economic aid to producing countries," Damien Verdier, Sodexo's Group Marketing Director said in a statement. "At present, we serve nearly one billion hot beverages, or 10,000 tons of coffee and tea annually and we would like to continue develop this offer in the future."

In addition to sourcing naturally produced teas and coffees, Sodexo's Aspretto line of beverages uses 100 percent recyclable or biodegradable packaging materials and serving utensils, and the company has focused on reducing the amount of materials needed to create the products.

As part of its overall "Better Tomorrow Plan" for green operations, Sodexo earlier this month announced it would audit 39,000 of its clients sites for sustainability practices, and last year set new goals for carbon reductions, seafood purchasing, and waste.

Coffee photo CC-licensed by Flickr user marfis75.